Sophie and the Locust Curse

The Lovereading4Kids comment

A really exciting adventure story set in Africa that will grip you from first page to last featuring a brave girl called Sophie and her albino camel Chobbal. Experience camel racing and a terrifying army of locusts - more of them than you can possibly imagine. Great stuff.

Synopsis

Sophie and the Locust Curse by Stephen Davies

Sophie and Gidaado are back and this time the enemy is more dangerous than camel thief Moussa ag Litni who featured in Sophie's first adventure, Sophie and the Albino Camel [link]. Locusts with their crop-devouring mandibles threaten the livelihood of the entire Oudalan Province. Gidaado is forced to become a crier announcing local news and the descriptions of missing cows. With Sophie's help, Gidaado's announcements become great hits! Who could resist Gidaado's crooning "Has anybody seen my Skinny Legs?"

Reviews

Another African adventure with the stars of the first book in the series: 'An exceptional short novel' - Times Educational Supplement

About the Author

Stephen Davies is a missionary who lives amongst Fulani herders in West Africa, one of the poorest regions of the world. He speaks Fulfulde, eats millet, accompanies cattle-drives and preaches the gospel in culturally relevant ways and lives a life just like those others who live there. He writes for the Guardian Weekly (letters from Burkina Faso) and occasionally for the Sunday Times.

VOICE IN THE DESERT - A Day in the Life of Stephen Davies:

I live in Djibo, a small town on the edge of the Sahara desert. Most of the year it is simply too hot to sleep inside the house, so my wife Charlie hangs a mosquito net from a tree in our back yard. We wake up to the usual early-morning soundtrack of donkeys, cockerels and cows. Lie-ins are rare because we have animals of our own to feed: three French hens, two black and white kittens and a hungry stallion called Silalé. Greeting is important in African societies, so I first go round saying hello to our neighbours: Jam waali (Did you pass the night in peace?), Noy koreeji maa (How is your family?), we sing the long greeting sequence back and forth. The answer to these questions is invariably Jam tan (Peace only). When they answer ‘Jam tan’, my neighbours are putting a brave face on things: in reality this region is one of the poorest in the world.My work here as a missionary includes humanitarian relief: grain handouts, yes, but also working with individuals to find creative ways out of poverty. A donkey and cart for Bukari, a sheep for Mariama, school fees for Adama – the slow, intangible work of development.

A missionary is also a storyteller, and I love sharing stories with people – ancient stories which still have incredible power to inspire and transform the human heart. In the afternoon, I write. I bash away on my laptop with sweat dripping off my elbows. I’m so grateful to my friends and neighbours here for sharing their lives with me – it’s their truth which inspires my fiction.